Today I went to the physical therapist for the first time since my left leg started hurting. Just to recap, I had to stop running on December 5th because of what felt like a hamstring injury on the left side. The muscle pain went away, but I was left with lightening bolts of pain through my leg whenever I moved in certain ways. After a month of trying to deal with it there was no improvement to speak of, other than it being better one day and worse the next, and so today I went to a therapist.

The diagnosis is that yes, I have sciatic nerve pain, but it’s being caused by a disc in my lower back that is either ruptured or bulging and therefore putting pressure on my nerve, which is causing pain down my left leg and into my foot whenever I cough (sneezes are ok), bend over, stand up, sit down, turn, look to the left or right, think, and sleep. In other words, I’m in constant pain, at least as long as I’m moving, which means even in my sleep if I move I end up waking up from the pain.

My initial treatment will consist of four or five visits to the therapist (the first being today) for electro-shock therapy (on my leg, not my brain), massage, stretching, and grief counseling. It’s really a bummer being hurt. I struggle occasionally with laziness, and so it’s frustrating to have the will and desire to do something but be prevented from doing it by something outside my control. At least now I’m working on repairing the damage and hopefully I can be out running in two weeks, but it’s no fun sitting around getting fat.

As for what caused it, I’m guessing it was a combination of things, including running, skateboarding, tight pants, my gut, and picking my daughter up, all combining to render me temporarily crippled.

Today’s the worst because I also went to the gym and lifted weights for the first time in several months, and now I can’t lift my arms without it just about killing me.

Jennifer Graham

Same injury….over Christams…went to stand and climb on my bike and the back went “snap” ..I fell and had to be helped up…aThis after ignoring a month of what I thought was a “tweaked” hamstring (running several holiday 10ks, with a bad leg I thought when in reality it was really a screwed up back)….So now I have no achilles reflex, can’t do a calf raise and my rt. leg is just now returning to the land of moderate function after daily PT for 7 days!! I feel your pain…Last week I thought I was going to loose my mind as I hit 3 weeks without sleep, a swim, abike or a run…or really even a walk… and my husband informed me my Feb Tri training camp had to be cancelled..(had yet to be done b/c I just knew I’d be fine).
See, he had forced me to have an MRI and as he sat in radiology pondering the lovely job I’d done on myself, a nuerosurgon came in and exclaimed, “HOLY CRAP..whose back is that and when are they having surgery??”….Well after my trip was ruined I promptly turned into Sybil and lost my ever lovin mind for the next 72 hrs…luckly my son brought out his Yoda doll and requested that I return from the dark side…”All that seems life ending, not always it is!”
Hang in there!!!! Its awful, but you don’t want to make it worse…I keep thinking…where do I want to be this time next year…you do the same…and surf the net for all those who have the same issue and are just fine!! In time!

http://www.HerniatedLumbarDisk.com Herniated Lumbar Disk

I have a lot of lower back pain. I injured myself weight lifting and found out that I have 2 herniated disks in the L4 L5 area. I been undergoing pain management and getting epidural shots.